Entrepreneur seeks to turn Ivy Place into tech village

Young entrepreneur David Cummings purchased the Ivy Place building at the corner of Piedmont and Lenox roads for $12.5 million in mid-December and plans to transform it into a tech village in Buckhead, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Cummings said the building, which has "The Private Bank" in big white letters on two sides, will be a community hub for ambitious tech companies and tech startups.

Last October, Cummings sold Pardot, a marketing automation company he started with a fellow Duke University alumnus in 2007, for $100 million.

His goal is to establish the Atlanta Tech Village and help catapult Atlanta as one of the country's top 10 cities for technology, according to published reports.

Some wonder whether the former Ivy Place is the right location for a new community center for "techies." However, the building is nestled between Investors, a north Fulton tech company and Tech Square, Georgia Tech's technology center.

Renovation of the building–which has been home to the Atlanta Business Chronicle– will cost about $4.5 million, most of which Cummings has reportedly sourced from his own blog.